Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Bacon Bits: Public Servants in Action

—

by

James A. Bacon
in ,

Robert Bobb to the rescue.

 Robert C. Bobb, a former Richmond city manager turned public-sector turnaround artist, pulled the City of Petersburg back from the brink of bankruptcy. Now he will endeavor to manage the City of Charlottesville, which has been hobbled by racial tensions and interpersonal conflicts. After debilitating turnover in the administration — seven executive-level positions are vacant or filled by acting supervisors — City Council has hired the Robert Bobb Group to provide city manager services for the next six months, according to Virginia Public Radio.

Bobb salvaged Petersburg, but can he save Charlottesville? Petersburg suffered from simple incompetence. But the People’s Republic of Charlottesville is prone to militancy, ideological fracture, absolutist judgments and cancel culture. Bobb, who stabilized Detroit public schools, is an administrative superman. Will Charlottesville be his kryptonite? 

Faking DNA results to fake out suspects. The Virginia Beach Police Department used forged documents linking peoples’ DNA to crimes on at least five occasions to get them to confess, the Attorney General’s Office has found. The fake documents bore a seal and letterhead from the Virginia Department of Forensic Science and the signature of a fictitious employee, reports CBS News. In one instance, a forged report was presented to a court as evidence. After its own investigation, the VB police ended the practice earlier this year. “This was an extremely troubling and potentially unconstitutional tactic that abused the name of the Commonwealth to try to coerce confessions,” said AG Mark Herring.

I don’t agree with Herring often, but this is one of those times. Tactics like this only undermine the public’s trust in law enforcement, which, from the FBI on down, suffers enough credibility issues as it is.

Sticky fingers. Ryan Yost, a Republican who held the 12th District House of Delegates seat from 2012 to 2018, has been indicted by a Giles Country grand jury on four counts of embezzlement. He has been charged with using a debit card to withdraw money from the Giles County Historical Society, where he was executive director, reports The Roanoke Times.

Share this article

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

Comments

26 responses to “Bacon Bits: Public Servants in Action”

  1. how_it_works Avatar
    how_it_works

    On #2, Cops are allowed to lie to a suspect to get them to confess.

    On #3, abusing your employer’s debit or credit card is a time-honored tradition, especially in the public sector.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      There’s a difference between lying and falsifying documents and test results. Tangible, intangible…

      This isn’t being done to dupe a suspect. It’s being done to dupe the suspect’s lawyer.

      1. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        It depends on what the meaning of “is” is.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          But he was correct. The attorney asked if he was having sex with Lewinski. Clinton just wanted to know if he meant “now” while being deposed.

          That whole set of questioning was stupid. The reason he was evasive is because grown men couldn’t say the names of body parts, which we can’t say here because of censor-bots.

          1. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            Depositions can be so ridiculous…

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZbqAMEwtOE&ab_channel=TheNewYorkTimes

          2. John Harvie Avatar
            John Harvie

            Thanks. Made my day! Wow!

          3. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            The attorney asked if he was having sex with Lewinski. Clinton just wanted to know if he meant “now” while being deposed.

            Now THAT is funny.

          4. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Truth is stranger than fiction, and always funnier. You gotta read the transcript. These guys were falling all over themselves to avoid saying what’s said in a Walt Disney movie. They were sssoooo vague that Clinton could have answered “Boston by three,” to every question.

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      Lying to a suspect about having an eye witness to a crime is one thing, forging official documents, particularly about something as “final” as DNA evidence is another thing entirely.

      1. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        It all depends on what the courts rule, if it’s ever taken that far.

        I would not be the slightest bit surprised if they ruled that lying on paper is OK too.

  2. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    yeah, I thought the police COULD lie to turn a suspect. At least they
    can on the COP shows on TV! A suspect who has money can demand a second lab check the DNA but one without money and/or guilty as hell is screwed. Perhaps a middle ground is a right for the accused to have the ability for a 2nd lab to confirm – paid for by the state AND that second test would also be evidence even if it went against the dependent.

    People just want honest justice – not games by the police and not methods for the guilty to escape justice.

    Right now the police and the prosecutors are often perceived as not so much for justice as they are for conviction and DNA have shown bad faith on the part of the law – enough times that people simply don’t trust them. They need to regain that by truly seeking justice – so some folks (the guilty and not0 may not like the outcomes, but they trust the process.

  3. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    Why Robert Bobb would want that burden at this stage in his career is puzzling, but if anybody can restore confidence, he might be it. He was starting out about when my Dad was getting out of the city manager game, and Dad tagged him all those years ago as a comer.

  4. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    At 47,000 people Charlottesville is too small to be an effectively self-governing entity. In any other state the city would be within Albemarle County. However, in Virginia it is a free standing entity.

    1. how_it_works Avatar
      how_it_works

      How about Manassas Park, with maybe 17,000 people? It’s a subdivision that somehow became a city.

      EDIT: All over a spat with Prince William County over school funding, Manassas Park residents thought that PWC was spending too much money on schools.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        didn’t know that….

        1. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          They had other issues with PWC, but that was the big one.

          I met the former mayor of Manassas Park some 15 years ago. I don’t recall his name but he was the mayor shortly after Manassas Park became a city.

          And he was still blaming PWC for Manassas Park’s problems (PWC wouldn’t let us have a grocery store, wouldn’t let us do this, etc)..

          This despite the fact that Manassas Park had been an independent city, at that point, for over 30 years.

  5. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Forging documents is a whole lot different from, “What if I told you that…,” or “Just got the DNA results and you’ve some ‘splainin’ to do…”

    What assurances are there that they won’t “accidentally” find their way to Exhibit B category?

    Forgery is a crime — PERIOD.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Oh I agree if the “forgery” is presented to people other than the suspect and proffered as legitimate.

      in that case, heads needed to be handed to the miscreants and termination of their credentials to practice law or be a LEO – no excuses and no exceptions.

      At that point, they are truly criminals themselves.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        You don’t have to talk to the police — ever — so don’t do it. Only a complainant has to talk to them. Until compelled by a court order, do not say anything, not even if they assure you that “you’re only a witness.”

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          yes… but few seem to know it especially those in the lower echelons …

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            You mean Republican congessmen?

        2. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          “I don’t answer questions.”

        3. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          Here is a link to a handy “Bust Card” offering advice for those who are detained, arrested, etc.

          It can be printed out, folded up and carried in your pocket or wallet:

          http://www.aclu.org%2Ffiles%2Fassets%2Fbustcard_eng_20100630.pdf&clen=118181&chunk=true

          EDIT: I can’t get the link to work. Working on it.

          EDOT2: Still can’t get link to work, so I’ll post a JPG of the card.

          1. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6758ab755b0738774196c3b4485684b7d692815fc2b418f0e6d6c88acd25d193.jpg

          2. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Well worth watching.
            https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE

            Part II is given by a VB police Lt.

  6. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    Robert Bobb has been around for a long time. Good luck.

Leave a Reply

Read More